


Love Pollywog

by Severely_Lupine



Category: Harry Potter - Rowling
Genre: F/M, First Meeting, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-23
Updated: 2009-11-23
Packaged: 2017-10-03 14:51:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Severely_Lupine/pseuds/Severely_Lupine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Luna met Rolf.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love Pollywog

Luna skipped through the portrait hole into the Ravenclaw common room.  It was nearly curfew and most of the other students had gone to bed, but Luna couldn't think of sleeping. 

 

She was still on a bit of a high from the late DA meeting.  They'd hexed one another quite a lot, and even though they'd tried to keep it relatively light (knowing they couldn't very well infiltrate the hospital wing after every meeting if they wished to remain undetected), she was already feeling a bit sore.  But it was a good kind of sore.  It was the sort of pain that reminded her where she'd been and what she was doing, and of the wonderful, happy, purposeful feeling she got when she was with the DA. 

 

She was nearly to the stairs up to her room when her pleasant thoughts were interrupted by a sharp sniff.

 

Spinning around, she immediately found the source of the noise.  A first-year boy was sitting in a chair by the largest book case.  He was so small, it didn't surprise her that she'd failed to notice him.

 

Without a second thought, she went over and sat in the chair beside him.

 

"What's wrong?"

 

The boy looked at her momentarily, then seemed to get embarrassed and shook his head.

 

"I won't tell anyone, but I've heard it sometimes helps people to talk about things."

 

Again, the boy looked at her, blinking back his tears.  Finally, he uncovered the hand which he had been cradling in his lap and held it out to her.

 

Thin pink lines on the back of his hand formed the words _I am a disrespectful child_.

 

"Did Umbridge do that?"

 

The boy shook his head.  "I did it."

 

"But she made you, with a special quill."

 

The boy nodded.  "Now, everyone will know."

 

"It doesn't look that bad," she said.  "See, it's healing already."

 

He looked at it again, stroking the fingers of his other hand over the wound as if checking to see if she was right.

 

"Have you seen Madam Pomfrey about it?"

 

He shook his head again.

 

"That's all right.  I'm sure it'll heal fine on its own."

 

He'd stopped crying, but was still staring at his hand.

 

"What did you do that was so disrespectful?" Luna asked with a smile.  After all, it couldn't have been worse than the things she and her—yes, _friends_ was the right word, she thought—had been doing lately.  In Umbridge's eyes, at least.

 

"I said she looks like a wheezing blatherscoot."  He looked right at her, his voice suddenly gaining strength.  "But she does!  She looks just like one!"

 

Luna wondered if she'd heard him correctly.  "Wheezing blatherscoot?  What's that?"

 

"Oh, it's this animal my granddad told me about once," he explained, his posture suddenly becoming much more relaxed.  "It kind of looks like a large, pink toad, but it makes this awful sort of chirping sound."

 

"Really?" Luna asked.  She curled her feet up under her in the chair and leaned toward him.  "I've never heard of that."

 

"Well, it's only found in this one lake in Zambia," the boy said.  "And there aren't many of them left, so I guess it's not surprising people don't know about them."

 

"Has your granddad told you about other animals that other people don't know about?" Luna asked, feeling a small surge of adrenaline rush through her body.

 

"Oh, lots," he said simply, then gave her a sort of timid smile, as if he didn't believe at all that she really found it interesting.

 

"Well, you'll tell me about them, won't you?" she asked impatiently.

 

His eyes widened.  "If you . . . like.  Of course." 

 

"I would very much like that.  Oh, but it's getting late, isn't it?  Tomorrow, then?"

 

"All . . . all right," said the boy, appearing amazed at her interest and having forgotten his scarred hand altogether.

 

"My name's Luna," she said.

 

"I know," said the boy, blushing a bit.  "I'm Rolf."

 

She got up from her chair and smiled at him again.  "It's nice to meet you, Rolf.  You should get to bed before you fall asleep down here.  I did that once.  I woke up late and found I'd been made up like a clown.  It's fun for a while, but the makeup begins to cake unpleasantly by the time classes are over."

 

He gaped at her, frowning a bit, then scrambled up from his chair. 

 

"Good night . . . Luna," he said awkwardly, then flashed her a shy grin and went up the stairs to the boys' dorm.

 

As Luna walked up the stairs to her room, Luna smiled, wondering if she would dream of pink Zambian toads tonight.


End file.
